Last week, the Texas State Bobcats sent out an offer to defensive end Jordan Williams out of Cox high school in Virginia Beach. Now they have offered a second player out of Cox, quarterback Cole Johnson.
The 6’5”, 192-lbs quarterback has seven offers, including Texas State, and is currently committed James Madison University. However, with most of the staff following Everett Withers to Texas State, Johnson says he is more than considering bringing his talents to San Marcos.
“Most of the staff from JMU went to (Texas State),” said Johnson. “I’ve been keeping in touch with my position coach, Brett Elliott, who’s going to be the QB coach and offensive coordinator there. I really like him; he’s been my favorite coach throughout the recruiting process. He’s been trying to get me down (to San Marcos) for a while. I’m coming down for my official visit this weekend.”
Johnson raved about Elliott as a coach and expressed his desire to team up with him, “I’ve been talking to (Elliott) a lot recently. He’s a great, communicative coach. He used to play quarterback at Utah before he went D3 and won a national title. He’s a real players coach. He knows exactly the position I’m in so he’s been able to relate to me and he has a great plan for me. He’s always wanted me to kind of be his guy wherever he goes so he’s been fighting for me. He had a great offense at JMU, they scored like 40 points a game. I feel like I will fit in the high-tempo offense. I haven’t spoken to him much on what system he’ll use but I know that is kind of his style.”
Although he lives in Virginia, he is no stranger to moving, having moved around the country with his father, who is in the Navy. On top of that, he wants to play for an FBS program and has family that live near San Marcos, “Most of my family lives in Austin now, a lot of my relatives. My dad is in the Navy so I’ve lived in Virginia for a while but I was actually born in California so I’m not too uncomfortable moving and leaving a place. I do love Virginia but it’s an FBS, D1 program in the Sun Belt. It would be a great opportunity.”
This may not be a well-known fact down in Texas, but Virginia Beach is rich with football talent. A lot of D1 athletes and NFL stars have come out of the Virginia Beach area. Similar to how the DFW metroplex or the Houston area is for Texas.
“The area that I’m in, the 757, it’s a really big area for athletes, football especially,” said Johnson. “Percy Harvin, Michael Vick, E.J. Manuel, Tyrod Taylor, a lot big names have come out of here. The whole area is really big into football. Traditionally, my school, until I came in, hadn’t won any playoff games in the history of the school. My junior year, we went to the playoffs and we won our first playoff game last year. This year we did the same thing. We’re 6A, which is the biggest in our state, and we have a big powerhouse in our district that was ranked 7th in the nation this year, Ocean Lakes high school. We had a running back my junior year, a 4-star guy named Khalan Laborn, and they got him, he transferred to (Ocean Lakes). That hurt us but I took more of a leadership role and put the team on my back this year and we won another playoff game.”
Many recruiting sites describe Johnson as a pro-style quarterback. With a reported 4.72 40 time, Johnson said he’s more than just a rocket arm that sits in the pocket, “I’m not really a pro-style (quarterback) or a dual-threat, I’d say I’m more of an all-threat. I’m not just the classic quarterback like Peyton Manning that just sits in the pocket all day but I’m also not a guy like Trevone Boykin that will use his legs any time he needs to. I feel like more a Paxton Lynch from Memphis. If I need to, I can use my legs, I can use my arm, use my mind, anything that I need to break down the defense.”
His other offers outside of Texas State and James Madison are from Temple, Norfolk State, Monmouth, Townsend and Davidson. His visit is to San Marcos is planned for this weekend. We’ll update you on Johnson’s visit after this weekend.
